Boston Public School Students Plan Second Walkout for Tuesday

Boston, MA - Roughly 1,300 Boston Public School students intend to walk out of class for a second time Tuesday, protesting potential school budget cuts among other issues, according to a Facebook event.

Thousands of BPS students converged on the statehouse in March, leaving school to protest budget cutbacks that, at the time, were expected to total as much as $32 million across the city school system.

• BPS Principals: We Do Not Sanction the Walkout
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The protest planned for Tuesday begins with a 1 p.m. walkout, according to the Facebook event page. Students gather at Boston City Hall for a Ways and Means committee meeting at 2 p.m., where they will testify and "pack the hall," as the event page puts it.

On Boston Herald Radio Tuesday morning, Walsh criticized the timing of the walkout.

"Students are in schools to be educated, not to walk out," he said.

About 1,300 have RSVP'd on Facebook as attending Tuesday's walkout, and another 1,100 or so have said they're "interested." An estimated 3,000 students took part in the walkout in March.

The target of the latest walkout is, again, funding cuts. Additionally, according to the Facebook event page, students are calling on city councilors not to close public schools, to eliminate "high-stakes tests... used to punish students, teachers and schools," stop unnecessary suspensions and expulsions, and "invest now, not later."

Most of those issues are beyond the purview of the committee, not to mention the fact that no schools are planned to closed, at least in this budget cycle. An outside audit commissioned by the schools had suggested consolidating some locations and decreasing per pupil spending, but both the mayor's office and school board have since distanced themselves from those recommendations, Boston.com reports.

In the wake of the first walkout, Mayor Marty Walsh said he sat down with BPS Superintendent Tommy Chang to find ways to defer fill most of the anticipated budget shortfall, granting BPS a reprieve in this year's budget. The school board passed this year's more than $1 billion school budget in late March, a $13.5 million increase, according to a joint op-ed by Chang and Walsh.

Still, the Boston Herald reports this week that a $5 million funding hole remains, a gap Walsh hopes the state Legislature can help bridge. Additionally, critics argue, budget increases do not keep pace with growth in the number of students or with inflation.

Although he believe students have a grasp on the budget, Walsh said in Tuesday morning's radio interview, he believes there "are definitely adults behind this... encouraging them to walk out." Given upcoming finals and today's MCAS test for sophomores, Walsh said he found the timing "very inappropriate."

The Boston Globe reported in March that two union-affiliated groups helped promote the walkout at the time, although leaders there denied actively leading organization efforts.

As with March's walkout, schools warn that participating students will be marked absent for any missed classes Tuesday, and families will receive automated phone messages informing them of those absences.

>> Photo by Alison Bauter, Patch staff